The X Factor host Dermot O'Leary has said he is disappointed the upcoming series will have fewer live shows than past outings but understands "people watch TV in a different way" now.

The ITV singing show is back on our screens on Saturday nights with the first footage of the auditions, but there will be fewer live broadcasts in the run-up to the final.

O'Leary told the Press Association: "I get it. Live shows are my favourite part of the show so the selfish part of me goes (cries).

"I love the live shows but we are making a show the same way we made a show 14 years ago and people watch TV in a very different way so I completely understand why we are doing it."

Last time Dermot was with the X Factor in Birmingham in 2013 (Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)

The new series also has contestants to performing their own original material and O'Leary said: "The encouragement of people to send their own songs is a big deal in that it gives them the power but at the same time give them a lot of responsibility.

"People can come on and do a great song at the first audition with one of their own songs but the second and third song that they try, you get to an arena with 5,000 people, it may not resonate as well as you want it to.

"Especially our audience, they love hearing some old school hits and reinvention of classics, so that's a gamble but that's quite empowering.

"It's all about putting the responsibility and those decisions back on the contestants."

The new series will also see the demise of the controversial jukebox, which determined which genre of song the contestants would sing the following week.